How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Chapter 1174 - 443: The All-New W13

To be honest, this is Qin Miao’s first time driving such an early F1 race car. But compared to the W09, Qin Miao actually wants to drive the pure internal combustion engine F1 race cars from the V8, V10, or V12 era.Unfortunately, the cars from that era don’t quite match the aesthetic preferences of today’s F1 fans in terms of appearance.

Most of those who like them are old fans, while Qin Miao’s current fans are mainly those new to F1, so Qin Miao truly doesn’t have the chance to try the performance of the older race cars at such events.

However, more surprising to Qin Miao than this was when he had put on his Mercedes racing suit backstage and came out of the lounge wearing a helmet, the waiting fans erupted with cheers that even startled the battle-hardened driver Qin Miao.

Then...

"Qin Miao!"

"Qin Miao!"

"Qin Miao!"

...

Amid the cheers of the on-site fans, everyone’s voices quickly converged together, calling his most familiar name in his native language.

But all these familiar things somehow made Qin Miao dazed for a moment.

After freezing for quite a while, Qin Miao could finally see the appearance of the surrounding fans in the dim lighting, as well as what they were holding, their clothing, hats, and waving flags.

They held the red five-star flag most familiar to Qin Miao, wore Mercedes team uniforms, donned hats emblazoned with Qin Miao’s number 66 that looked very Ferrari red but were actually Mercedes caps, and waved not only the five-star flags but also the black trident Mercedes team flags.

Listening to the ear-pounding cheers, looking at the fans’ fervent expressions and familiar skin tones.

At this moment, Qin Miao deeply realized what it means to race on home turf.

While Qin Miao was still in a daze, a hand unexpectedly came to rest on his shoulder. Hamilton stepped up beside Qin Miao, looking at the cheering fans with an expression of surprise.

Yet it was only a surprise and not the same shock felt by Qin Miao.

Hamilton clicked his tongue and said, "This is only Singapore, and you’ve already garnered such strong support. I truly can’t imagine how many people would support you at the Chinese Grand Prix if it were restarted."

"Honestly, if it were in the past, I wouldn’t be able to give you an exact answer, but now... I suppose it would be even more fervent..." Qin Miao said.

After all, having come here for the event, Qin Miao couldn’t just stand and chat with Hamilton.

Therefore, the audience on-site saw Qin Miao stand for a moment before waving to the audience along the streets.

The already noisy crowd erupted into even louder cheers when they saw this gesture from Qin Miao.

But because the cheering crowd was too large, and all focused on Qin Miao, he found himself unable to hear anything at the moment.

It’s just that Hamilton was used to such cheers, appearing totally relaxed, feeling no pressure or tension.

Not only because the cheers were not directed at him but because, as a seven-time champion and ever since joining F1, he’d always raced on home turf, so he had long been at ease with home crowd support.

After greeting the audience, Qin Miao got into the Mercedes W08 used for performances under the guidance of staff.

As a performance car, the engine inside wasn’t the full-power competition kind, but limited, reducing 200 horsepower.

This detuning, while extending the engine’s lifespan for more events, also lowered the handling difficulty.

After all, the event was held on streets or other non-track paved surfaces.

F1 race cars are literally beasts, and to prevent drivers from losing control, the team needed to ensure safety measures were in place.

Moreover, this degree of detuning was hard to detect.

And Qin Miao, completely surrounded by the cheers of the audience, got into the race car.

Even with the helmet on, Qin Miao could clearly hear the cheers of the surrounding spectators once he was inside the car.

Truth be told, if the organizers hadn’t used barriers of concrete blocks and metal rods instead of water barriers for today’s event.

While staff donned in security uniforms maintained order around the barriers, otherwise, given the crowd’s feverishness, they would have stormed in.

Following this, Qin Miao naturally carried out a stunt show for the local fans on the three specially planned Z-shaped streets.

Drawing doughnuts, suddenly accelerating, using specially made tires with less grip along the car for stylish but speedless drift turns.

In a mere fifteen minutes, Qin Miao and Hamilton gave the fans a good display of driving skills.

Though, both Qin Miao and Hamilton knew the audience wasn’t there to see their driving but to see the drivers themselves.